


Three Little Words

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:20:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6068455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glimpse of the tortured relationship Anakin shares with Obi-Wan</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Little Words

By the time Anakin hits the confusion of puberty, he's already immersed in one fact of the universe. Obi-Wan Kenobi loves Qui-Gon Jinn, and even death has not severed that connection. He's heard his master's restless sleep, caught the choking cry of 'master' as Obi-Wan learns to live without his center. What affection Obi-Wan musters for the starved slave of Tatooine is held in check by distance, politeness, maybe even duty, but Anakin takes what he can get. It's all he has to keep him warm in the coldness of struggling powerlessly against a ghost.

Puberty changes something, though, because now Anakin hungers. He needs every single contact he can make happen. His enthusiasm for sparring grows in leaps and bounds. He deliberately crowds into Obi-Wan's space, and uses his increasing height as an excuse. That Obi-Wan endures it is only slowly evident to Anakin, wishing, just once, that it would provoke something other than disdain. Anakin hungers for the touches, but he hungers even more for Obi-Wan to actually acknowledge him.

The first time those touches do go farther is after a mission, and Anakin is hurt. Obi-Wan's hands are working magic on the twisted muscles in Anakin's legs, soothing them back into place. Those touches wreak havoc on Anakin's control, and he's achingly hard when Obi-Wan finishes the massage. Anakin's groan and careful move to try and alleviate the discomfort draws Obi-Wan's attention… and the bond flickers.

Is it pity? Is it compassion?

Anakin can't bring himself to care in that moment, as Obi-Wan lies behind him and jerks him off to a sleepy completion.

The next morning, in an empty bed, then Anakin wonders. And every other encounter in each other's bed, with that politeness, the distance so firmly established, Anakin comes to see the sexual acts as another piece of Obi-Wan's concept of 'duty'.

He rages inside, and pursues his life at full speed, because he's tired of being caught in the web of being something Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan to handle.

They both go too far, Obi-Wan trapped by duty, while Anakin is trapped inside a nightmare of shadows and pain.

"I loved you!"

The words, hurled in the midst of a fight that can only end in death, lancing through a festering mass of hate and anger and fear, bring one warrior to his knees.

"Me?!"

That countering accusation, managing to deny and plead for the truth make the other warrior tremble, as danger pours in all around them.

"Yes."

Anakin reaches out, and Obi-Wan cannot fight any longer, wrapping his hand around that one, wrapping his presence around the broken, shattered man Anakin has become. No one dies,not yet, but the shadows are lifting, and Anakin knows his true enemy, finds healing in the arms of his dearest, oldest friend that loves him, always had.

And Obi-Wan won't let go, won't disappear, not now.

**Author's Note:**

> If Obi-Wan had admitted his love earlier in the fight, when Anakin needed something to anchor on... what could the world have become?


End file.
